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Recipe - Energy Bites

Make Your Own Energy Bites

These little balls of energy are incredibly easy to make, pretty healthy and easy on the stomach. Ideal pre and post run or else on the move for longer days out. They're also a pretty good snack for any other day when you need a boost. You can swap and change many of the ingredients so feel free to play around.

The measurements are pretty approximate, I normally do it by eye, adding a little more oats if it gets too wet and adding more oil or water if it gets too dry.

Depending on what you decide to put in them, these can easily be made to be gluten free, dairy free and/or processed sugar free!

Ingredients:

50g Oats (Porridge, Rolled or Jumbo)

150g Pitted Dates

2 tablesoons Oil (Coconut, Linseed, Rice Bran, Nut etc. Maybe not olive. Melted butter also works but not so healthy)

2 tablespoons Tap Water (you can also use a nut milk such as almond; any dairy will shorten the shelflife of these)

Method:

Stick the oats in a blender and pulse for 30sec or until you have a coarse flour with a few whole oats left. Tip these into a large mixing bowl along with the other dry ingredients (inc. nuts).

Put the dates, oil and water into the blender and blend until a thick paste is formed. Scrape this out into the mixing bowl and mix well with the dry ingredients. At this point you could also add any other little extras you might want: chocolate chips, seeds, grated ginger, a shot of espresso etc.

Once everything is mixed well, you can either:

- Line a tray or dish with clingfilm and spoon the mixture in. Then flatten it out, cover with more cling film and press it into shape, about ¾” deep. Then leave it to chill in the fridge for a few hours. Once chilled, slice into squares and wrap in foil or clingfilm ready to be eaten wherever, whenever. This is the cleanest method of prepping them.

- Your other option is to get a biscuit cutter, about ¾” diameter and squash spoonfuls of the mixture into, on top of a tray (lined with clingfilm or greaseproof paper). Squash the mixture into the mould, then, using your thumb, hold the mixture down and remove the cutter. Repeat this, place tray in the fridge and chill. Then wrap the little pucks of goodness in foil or clingfilm. This can get a bit messy but makes for a fairly regular shaped bite.

- Or else you can take a small, bitesize amount in your hands and roll it into a ball, place on a tray and put in the fridge to chill. Once chilled wrap them up. This is probably the messiest technique but gives the most satisfying shape to the bites.

These will keep for around 10 days if kept either in the fridge or a cool cupboard. Feel free to experiment with quantities, add honey or syrup for a sweeter bite or try other fillings and fruits. Roll them in jumbo oats, cocoa, finely chopped nuts or dessicated coconut for a nice looking, extra tasty outer layer.